The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (12 June to 18 June)

[ZedClampet]

Been playing Forza Horizon 5 and V Rising.

I'm gradually getting better at the combat in V Rising, but the game is naturally pretty hard, and you frequently come across enemies you can't kill because they are so far beyond your level, so I'm trying to pick my battles better. We're having a blast with it.

We can't believe this game is in early access. It has more content that most games, with tons of bosses, dungeons, crafting recipes, a huge map, etc. There must be at least 50 different bosses, and each one grants you at least one new power and at least one crafting recipe (but some will give you 5 or 6 new recipes). And in 10 hours of play, we've yet to encounter a bug. And they are only charging $19.99 for it. They are almost as bonkers as Brian.

In Forza, I've made a few custom races that are getting a lot of play, which is pretty cool, and some of my car designs are getting used, as well.

I'm trying to teach Mr What Button is the Brake? (my son) to drive correctly. He wins lots of races, but he does it by wall running. Part of the problem is that he never upgrades his differential, which means the cars don't turn well. We're getting there. He got his driver's license in real life on Friday, which if you've ever watched him in Forza driving through the woods at 200 mph upside down, is a bit scary. Everyone who lives in America should probably just stay home for awhile.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I'm trying to teach Mr What Button is the Brake? (my son) to drive correctly. He wins lots of races, but he does it by wall running. Part of the problem is that he never upgrades his differential, which means the cars don't turn well. We're getting there. He got his driver's license in real life on Friday, which if you've ever watched him in Forza driving through the woods at 200 mph upside down, is a bit scary. Everyone who lives in America should probably just stay home for awhile.

I've never played Forza, but I never imagined it to be so arcade you could drive so erratically and get away with it. Is it one of those games that has a lot of driving assists you can toggle on or off? The reason I ask, is most seem to describe it as more SIM-like in car handling.

I'm still slogging through my Days Gone playthrough on Survival II, which for some time now has been done completely without upgrades. I'm also not luring enemies into bushes with rock throws as much as the first part of the game. I also just took down the first horde in the campaign. I planned to do it with as much stealth as possible, and killed roughly half the horde that way. At that point it starts getting a bit harder to lure them to big propane tanks though, as by then you've used up all the close ones. I did OK once I broke stealth though, using a momentary retreat with the bike, then luring them through buildings, catching them in the trap at the train tracks, weaving them through the fence near explosive barrels, and using a culvert to lose them before reengaging the final few.

I also managed a couple of the missions where you have to track down enemies on the bike, which were looking to be impossible at first. The first one I resorted to using a couple well placed remote bombs before the chase started to damage his bike half way, then rammed him into a stone wall and shot his bike to explode it. The other was too difficult to manage placement and timing of a bomb detonation, and I wanted to save them for the next horde anyway. So it involved a real chase, which I managed by taking a more direct route through woods and around bends, after getting a Target Escaping warning.

The next horde will no doubt involve more use of the bike, as it happens in broad daylight and is more open ground, so harder to use stealth. There are however a few big tanker trucks to use if you can manage to safely lure the horde to them. I will definitely not be able to do it the way I normally do though, which is mostly running like hell to lure them. What's been helping a lot on luring though is just firing my pistol 2 or 3 times. I used to waste an extra Attractor, but shooting the pistol a few seconds before placing one suffices just as well. I'm hoping with this method I can use all the tanker trucks effectively, but that will likely at best only kill half the horde, if that.

 

[Johnway]

Damn it, i'm starting to sound like a broken record player right now. Chivalry 2 is released and i'm still no closer to decided whether i want to buy the game. The problem is find time to play the game to make it worth buying it. i have a massive steam collection, life commitments and pvp being incredibly stressful is making me pause getting it. i mean, Chiv2 isn't a quick pickup and play game as you need to commit time to be any good or hold your own in this game.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Damn it, i'm starting to sound like a broken record player right now. Chivalry 2 is released and i'm still no closer to decided whether i want to buy the game. The problem is find time to play the game to make it worth buying it. i have a massive steam collection, life commitments and pvp being incredibly stressful is making me pause getting it. i mean, Chiv2 isn't a quick pickup and play game as you need to commit time to be any good or hold your own in this game.

Yeah, even I don't play games like that, despite being retired. They just take too much time to play.

 

[Zloth]

I'm playing The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. (The base game was on sale.) It's a little early, they've still got one more DLC to kick out the door, but I've never gotten anything from that developer before, so I want to check the game out before investing in the whole thing. From the main menu, it looks like you might start those fresh anyway, they aren't integrated into the main campaign.

So far, it's pretty fun! The turn based tactics have worked well. I'm playing on 'hard' and failing most of the battles the first time, then re-loading and winning (barely) the second time. That's right about what I was aiming for!

There's a LOT of humor. Unfortunately, most of it is undone because the voice acting isn't very good and/or is rushed. There's still enough to keep it funny, just not LOL funny.

You get quite a few characters very early in the game. There's a ranger, an elf, a dwarf, a barbarian, a mage, and an ogre. After a few shenanigans, you also add either a paladin, a priestess, or a minstrel. So, eight characters total... wait, that's only seven? Well, there's some other character, too, I forget which.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've never played Forza, but I never imagined it to be so arcade you could drive so erratically and get away with it. Is it one of those games that has a lot of driving assists you can toggle on or off? The reason I ask, is most seem to describe it as more SIM-like in car handling.

He drives relatively okay. It's just that Forza allows you to get through turns by riding the walls unless you are playing against real people. He does use all the driving assists, though, which helps a lot. It can be either arcade or sim, just depending on how you have your settings. There's another game, Forza Motorsport, that takes everything a bit more seriously. You can't buy the last one anymore for some reason, but they are getting ready to come out with 8 in the not too distant future. In fact they may announce the release date today.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Still playing Hardspace Shipbreaker.

Youre an employee at a space junkyard tearing apart ships and putting the parts in relevant processors to earn cash. Theres a time limit for each day of 15 minutes (in the career mode) and you have to get as much processed as you can before the end of the day and try to make a profit. Of course the space junk company is screwing its employees with manufactured debts you have to pay off every day, as well as charges for fuel, o2 revivals etc.

Gradually getting more complicated. There's reactors which need to be processed within one minute of pulling because theyll go critical. Just started dealing with pressurisation, you have to figure out how to take things apart without having compartments explosively decompress and either kill you or blow up a lot of expensive scrap in the process. You also have to be careful not to cut anything near a fuel line you havent isolated and drained. Luckily you have a scan mode which basically brings up a 3d blueprint of the ship showing different material types and cut points so you know roundabout where you can get started with your laser cutter and grapple tool.

Suit, tools and equipment is all upgradeable for better range, less cooldown, stronger materials can be cut etc, seems quite a lot and I've barely started.

Movement is fun, obviously full 360 degrees and you have to watch your momentum as its easy to overshoot. There is a story and decent voice acting, so far seems OK but probably not the main focus here.

Probably going to finish this one.

 

[flashn00b]

I'll be perfectly honest, the amount of attention I give about Persona 5 on PC is "Tales and SoulCalibur, and PlatinumGames games on Steam died for this. This better be worth it"

 

[Colif]

can you think of a better way to phrase that without using one word?

 

[ZedClampet]

Still playing Hardspace Shipbreaker.

I'm hoping that goes on sale during the Summer Sale. It just left early access recently, though, so I'm not sure it will. Maybe just a little discount.

 

[Frag Maniac]

It can be either arcade or sim, just depending on how you have your settings.

Cool, I may have to start trying the Forza Horizon games at some point.

 

[Johnway]

Yeah, even I don't play games like that, despite being retired. They just take too much time to play.

The other greater issue is that it feels like there's very little incentive to get me to play for long periods of time. Sure, they offer an experience, but its this endless constant cycle of playing the same maps again and again. it feels.. pointless at times.

Some people say that in multiplayer the varied challenge is what keeps them going, but at the same time , i feel like its rinse and repeat some times. More so with PvE stuff, almost like... grinding.

In Sp at least i'm working towards something, following a story working towards some payoff or at least i can measure the length of the game etc. Atm i'm playing Mafia 3 a relatively mediocre game yet for some reason why can't i just drop it and play something exciting like Chiv2?

I need to make a decision sooner or later, as the golden period of a game is the first month and if i miss that boat, then i really will be wasting time and money....

 

[Zloth]

Huh? Persona 5?? Was there an announcement on the PC Gamer show?

Playing Dungeon of Naheulbeuk, the ranger drank a potion that made him sickly and stinky. It was easy enough to track down the guy that made it and extract an antidote from him. However, when I checked inventory:

Oh no. I checked the achievement rate on Steam. Less than 2%. These devs know how to torture me.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I've never played Forza, but I never imagined it to be so arcade you could drive so erratically and get away with it. Is it one of those games that has a lot of driving assists you can toggle on or off? The reason I ask, is most seem to describe it as more SIM-like in car handling.

Like Zed pointed out, there is a huge difference between Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport. Horizon games are more arcade racers, and Motorsport games are more sims. You were probably hearing about Motorsport.

But you're right about Horizon. My wife plays Forza Horizon and just takes off and drives through the desert, not caring what she hits. In fact, you actually get points for hitting billboards in that game. If you want a sim, Motorsport is the game for you.

 

[ZedClampet]

Like Zed pointed out, there is a huge difference between Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport. Horizon games are more arcade racers, and Motorsport games are more sims. You were probably hearing about Motorsport.

But you're right about Horizon. My wife plays Forza Horizon and just takes off and drives through the desert, not caring what she hits. In fact, you actually get points for hitting billboards in that game. If you want a sim, Motorsport is the game for you.

You can play in sim mode, though. Just take off all the driving assistance.

 

[Frag Maniac]

As far as which I'd pick, hard to say. I prefer games like GRID to games like FUEL and CREW (seem to be similar to Horizon), which feel unstructured by comparison to me. I play on keyboard though, so I can't handle anything too SIM-like. Does Motorsport have a full complement of assists you can toggle on or off too?

I don't know if any of you have played GRID 2019, but I played it on Hard with Medium level assists, meaning all of them were set to 3 instead of Off (hardest), or 5 (easiest). Those are also the default settings for Hard mode btw, but they also give you up to 3 Flashbacks (rewind do overs), I never used them though.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm hoping that goes on sale during the Summer Sale. It just left early access recently, though, so I'm not sure it will. Maybe just a little discount.

I'm playing it on Gamepass.

 

[Pifanjr]

My daughter has finally decided she'd rather play as the cat in Spiritfarer, which has sped up our process a lot as now I can just do the talking. Finished the storylines of two more characters and I think we're close to finishing two other ones as well, though we need to pick up some resources for that and my daughter is still controlling where we're sailing to, so it'll probably take a while still.

We also tried Boomerang Fu for the first time yesterday (thanks again @DXCHASE), which is a lot more fun than I expected. We played with just the two of us for a while and the disguise power made for a fun game of hide and go seek. We did also play against some CPU opponents, which was a bit too hard for my daughter but still fun enough. It seems like it would be great as a party game with some friends as well.

Damn it, i'm starting to sound like a broken record player right now.

I have briefly wondered if you're being paid for every time you mention Chivalry 2

 

[DXCHASE]

Starfield doesnt look interesting to me. The new trailer makes it look generic and i dont know if id find it fun. Im sure itll be a great game for those that love no mans sky / elite dangerous but just not appealing to me.

I am also sad there is no new info on the Gothic Remake yet.

Diablo 4 looks pretty good, but... its Blizzard. I hear a lot of old heads from D2 complaining about how it looks and all and praying it wont be D3 etc., but those people can stay living in the past. When Lost Ark released i wondered what elements of this game will be adapted into D4. So far ive seen "world bosses" being used, which is great.

Also D4 is COUCH COOP.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

You can play in sim mode, though. Just take off all the driving assistance.

But does that turn off getting points for intentionally hitting billboards and stuff? No matter how hard it is to steer, it's still going to have a lot of arcadey elements to it. I've never played Motorsport, so I don't know if that stuff is in those games or not.

Starfield doesnt look interesting to me. The new trailer makes it look generic and i dont know if id find it fun. Im sure itll be a great game for those that love no mans sky / elite dangerous but just not appealing to me.

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I really like No Man's Sky, but I don't need another one that is turned into an RPG.

 

[Johnway]

Appears to be confirmation that more persona games will be appearing on xbox and pc. Whilst i have Persona3 portable, i'm more interested in Persona5 so exciting news. more PS exclusives please! like Bloordborne or gravity rush series!

 

[Frag Maniac]

Starfield doesnt look interesting to me. The new trailer makes it look generic and i dont know if id find it fun. Im sure itll be a great game for those that love no mans sky / elite dangerous but just not appealing to me.

I think what will be interesting and unique about Starfield is that it will have a ton of exploration and building for what appears to be also an Action based RPG. You don't usually see many Action RPG/Exploration games. I also think the story has potential if they end up finding something profound like the origin of humanity, and it's done in an interesting way. The potential for the story to pull you in is huge here, but they'll need good writers to pull it off.

The only thing I'd worry about being "generic" is if they try to make your choices so viable that it would be a simple matter of buffing certain skills, adding ship building components, or building new weapons or mods to deal with character and crafting choices that aren't working out for you, instead of having to deal with the playstyle path they put you on. Sometimes games that have a myriad of choices make that mistake, and it makes it feel like any dim wit can play them well.

I'm really excited for the building options shown, because it was one of the best features for me even in Fallout 4, and it looks like they've really focused on that even more in Starfield. I could see spending hours just with building things.

 

[Raven1221]

Early access! I hope I will not be needed to use this thing again!

 

[Zloth]

Holy... who turned up the heat!? We got to about 100 degrees here in KC today. I'm glad I got interested in a game that doesn't crank the GPU too much. Mechwarrior 5 heats up my room in winter.

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I really like No Man's Sky, but I don't need another one that is turned into an RPG.

I do! Gimmie to it!!

I was a little disappointed that it didn't appear I could steal the pirate's ship while they were poking around in that facility. Sneak into the ship, set it to follow my ship as soon as it takes off, RUN to my ship, and head right to the Used Ship Salesman. I'm sure they will only pay a sixth of what it's worth - but an entire starship beats the tar out of stealing silverware and cups!

 

[ZedClampet]

Does Motorsport have a full complement of assists you can toggle on or off too?

Yes, but I've never tried it with keyboard, although I know some players do that, so it must work okay.

I don't know if any of you have played GRID 2019, but I played it on Hard with Medium level assists, meaning all of them were set to 3 instead of Off (hardest), or 5 (easiest). Those are also the default settings for Hard mode btw, but they also give you up to 3 Flashbacks (rewind do overs), I never used them though.

Can you tune your car in Grid? Like change the camber and stuff?